Chapter 19 Chapter 18 Serious Problems

By this time the projectile had passed the ring-shaped cliffs of Mount Tycho.Barbicane and his two friends observed carefully the glowing lines that so strangely projected in all directions from this famous crater. What is this glowing halo?What kind of geological phenomenon are these hair-like glowing lines?This question naturally lingered in Barbicane's mind. In fact, in his eyes, these two-sided high, concave luminous grooves stretched in all directions, some were twenty kilometers wide, some were fifty kilometers wide.Some of these splendid lines stretched as far as three hundred leagues from Mount Tycho, especially on the east, northeast, and north sides, and seemed to cover half the southern hemisphere.One of them stretches as far as the Neander crater at the fortieth parallel.The other, thicker and thicker, stretches over the Sea of ​​Wine to the Pyrenees, a distance of more than four hundred leagues.Others stretched to the west, covering the sea of ​​clouds and the sea of ​​humor like a curtain of light.

What is the origin of all these luminous lines, which occur not only on plains, but also on mountains, however high they may be?And all the lines start from a common central Tycho pass.They are all launched from this crater.Herschel's suggestion that their luminescence came from condensed ancient lava flows was rejected.Other astronomers think the unexplained lines come from ice sulfide or from a row of wandering rocks ejected during the formation of Tycho. While describing the opinions of various astronomers, Barbicane denied them one by one. "Why were they all denied?" Nicholl asked Barbicane.

"Because the regularity of these glowing lines, and the force that must have been present to eject the volcanic material to such great distances, cannot be explained." "Oh!" replied Michelle, "I think it's really easy to explain the source of these lights." "Really?" asked Barbicane. "Really," replied Michel, "I will suffice to say that this great star-shaped crack may have been caused by a bullet or a stone on the pane!" "Very well!" Barbicane retorted with a smile. "What kind of hand has such strength to take a stone and smash the moon into this shape?"

"How can it be used!" Michelle replied, he was not stumped by the other party. "As for the stone, we assume it is a comet." "Ah! Comet again!" exclaimed Barbicane, "you always use the comet as a shield!"My honest Michel, your explanation is not bad, but your comet is unnecessary.The blow that created the rift may have come from within the body.The sudden contraction of the moon's hard shell under cooling is enough to create this huge star-shaped rift. " "That would be a contraction, like a colic on the moon," replied Michel Ardan.

"Besides," added Barbicane, "this is also the opinion of an American scholar, Naismith. I think this opinion is sufficient to explain the cause of these rays." "This Nasmith is not stupid!" Michelle replied. The three travelers never tire of admiring the magnificent scenery of Mount Tycho for a long time.Under the double light of the sun and the moon, their projectile looked like a sphere burning to incandescence.No wonder they went from extreme cold to extreme heat.This is probably how nature prepared to train them to be moonmen. Become a Moon Man!This led them to consider the question of whether the moon is habitable or not.Can the three travelers answer this question based on what they have seen?Can they draw affirmative or negative: conclusions?Michel Ardan urged his two friends to express their opinions by asking them directly whether they thought there were animals and men in the lunar world.

"I think we can answer," said Barbicane, "but, in my opinion, we should not put the question in this way. I would like to put it in another way." "Please 1" Michelle replied. "Listen," continued Barbicane. "There are two sides to this question, and therefore two answers. Is the Moon habitable? Has the Moon ever been inhabited?" "Very well," Nicholl replied. "We start by looking at whether the moon is habitable." "Honestly, I don't know anything about that," Michelle replied. "As for me, I answer in the negative," went on Barbicane. "Judging from the current situation of the moon, due to the very thin atmosphere, most of the lunar sea has dried up, the water is insufficient, and the survival of plants is restricted. It changes from cold to hot, and the night and day last for 354 hours. It is not habitable, it is not good for the development of the animal kingdom, and it does not meet the needs of survival as we understand it."

"I agree with you," Nicholl replied, "but wouldn't the bio-moon, whose structure is completely different from ours, be habitable?" "That question is more difficult," replied Barbicane. "I'll try it now, but first I'll ask Nicholl if he thinks that 'movement' is still a necessary consequence of existence, regardless of the constitution of living things?" "No doubt," Nicholl replied. "Very well, my esteemed partner, I shall answer you then, that we have observed the lunar continent at a distance of up to five hundred meters, and we have not seen anything wriggling. If there were any human beings, we would have We will see their presence in the traces of their conquest of nature, their buildings and even their ruins. However, what do we see? Everywhere, and always, it is the geological engineering of nature, and no human engineering at all. If there was an animal kingdom on the Moon, they might be hiding in these unfathomable caverns that cannot even be reached by sight. However, I cannot agree with this view, because, if it is, they will be covered in such a thin atmosphere. In fact, we have not seen such traces anywhere. Therefore, there is only one hypothesis left now, that is, there may be a sign of life and life here - 'movement' Creatures without any relationship!" This is equivalent to saying that there is no living creature without life: Michel retorted that he said

"Exactly," replied Barbicane, "but it means nothing to us." "Well, we can now have our say," Michelle said. "Yes," Nicholl replied. "Very well," went on Michel Ardan, "the Scientific Council meeting in the projectile of the Cannon Club, after debating the newly observed facts, voted unanimously on the present habitability of the Moon as follows : No, the moon is not currently habitable." Chairman Barbicane took the minutes of the meeting of December 6th in his notebook, and took note of this resolution. "Now," said Nicholl, "we come to the second question, which is an essential supplement to the first. I now ask the honorable committee: If the moon is now uninhabitable, what has it been before? Has anyone ever lived there?"

"Give the floor to the citizen of Barbicane," said Michel Ardan. "My friends," replied Barbicane, "with regard to the habitability of our satellite, I could express my opinion even without this trip. I add that our own observations can only Confirming my opinion. I think I can even conclude that the Moon was inhabited by a human being in our structure and produced animals anatomically identical to those on Earth, but I add that these humans Or the animal is gone, extinct forever!" "So," Michelle asked, "the Moon is an older world than the Earth?"

"No," replied Barbicane quite confidently, "it's just that this world decays more quickly, its formation and decay proceed very quickly. Compared with him, the organization of matter in the moon's interior is stronger than that of the earth." Much more. This crumpled, riddled, and bulging moon disk alone is proof enough. The Moon and the Earth were initially nothing more than two gaseous clumps, which gradually evolved under the influence of several different forces. Liquids are formed, and solids are formed later. It is absolutely certain that when our earth was still in a gas or liquid state, the moon had already condensed into a solid body due to cooling and was suitable for habitation.”

"I believe it," Nicholl said. "At that time," continued Barbicane, "the atmosphere surrounded the moon. The gas was able to absorb water, so that it was not evaporated. Under the interplay of air, water, light, heat from the sun, and heat from the center of the moon, the plants thus Occupying the lunar continent that can accept it, it is certain that life appeared during this period, because nature will not waste its energy in vain, and such an excellent habitable world must have been inhabited. " "However," replied Nicholl, "many natural phenomena inherent in our satellite can hinder the expansion of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, as, for example, these three hundred and fifty-four hours of day and night are not an example?" "At the North and South Poles of the Earth," said Michele, "for six months!" "This argument has little value because the poles are uninhabited." "Note, my friends," continued Barbicane, "that if, in the present condition of the Moon, these long nights and days make such temperature differences unbearable to the organism, yet at that historical period Quite different. At that time, the atmosphere covered the moon like a coat. The water vapor turned into clouds. This natural screen can reduce the heat of the sun and the darkness of the night. The light can diffuse in the air like heat. Therefore, in various The influence can maintain a balance, but now, this atmosphere has almost completely disappeared, and this balance no longer exists. Moreover, if I go on, you may be surprised..." "Go ahead," said Michel Ardan. "I truly believe that there were not three hundred and fifty-four hours of night and day during this inhabited period on the Moon." "Why?" Nicholl asked hastily. "For it is probable that the motions of the moon's rotation and revolution were not equal at that time, and that, only when they were equal, any point of the moon was exposed to the sun's rays for fifteen days." "I agree," replied Nicholl, "but if the two movements are now equal, why were they not equal then?" "Because whether the two motions are equal or not depends on the gravitational force of the earth. But who told us that when the earth was still a fluid, its gravitational force was sufficient to change the motion of the moon?" "In fact, who told us that the Moon has always been a satellite of the Earth?" "And who told us," exclaimed Michel Ardan, "that the moon existed before the earth?" Then, like a slowing horse, the imagination gallops across an endless field of hypotheses.Barbicane tried to catch the slow rope. "These are unresolvable problems," he said, and we needn't go any further.We simply assume that the gravitational force of the earth has not yet gained a dominant position, so the moon's rotation and revolution motions are not equal, since day and night are likely to alternate alternately like day and night on the earth.And, even without these conditions, life could still exist. "So," asked Michel Ardan, "has man disappeared from the moon?" "Yes," replied Barbicane, "but there is no doubt that they disappeared after thousands of centuries of existence on the moon. Then the atmosphere gradually became thinner, and the surface of the moon became uncomfortable. Just like the earth will become colder and colder in the future, and sooner or later it will be uninhabitable." "Is it because of the cold?" "No doubt," replied Barbicane. "As the subterranean fire extinguished, the hot matter in the center of the moon gradually condensed and the outer shell became colder. The gradual consequences of this natural phenomenon: animals disappeared, plants disappeared. After a while, the atmosphere became thinner and thinner. , probably attracted by the earth: finally there is no air to breathe, and the water evaporates. By this period, the moon has become an uninhabitable world, a dead world, just as we see today so." "According to you, is this also the fate of the earth?" "Probably so too" But when? ""When its shell gradually cooled, and it was too cold to be habitable. ’ ‘Has anyone calculated the time for the cooling of our unfortunate planet? "Of course someone has calculated it." ,, "Do you know these numbers?" "of course I know" "Then please tell us quickly, chilling scientist," exclaimed Michel Ardan, "for you have made me anxious like a pot of water that is about to boil! " "Well, my goodness Michel," replied Barbicane unhurriedly, "we already know how much the temperature of the earth cools in a century. According to certain figures, the average temperature of the earth will drop to Zero degrees!" "Fourty thousand years!" Michelle yelled. "Ah! Now, I can catch my breath! Seriously, I was terrified just now! Listening to your tone of voice, I thought we only had fifty thousand years to live!" Barbicane and Nicholl could not help laughing at the apprehension of their companion.Then, Nicholl raised the second question just discussed again, and he hoped to draw a conclusion. "Has the moon ever been inhabited?" he asked. The answer is yes, and unanimously. Their discussion summarizes the general conception which science has achieved in this respect, but many of their theories are too light.At this moment, the projectile was advancing rapidly towards the lunar equator, while moving away from the lunar surface with great regularity.From an altitude of 800 kilometers above the surface of the moon, it crossed William Crater and the 40th parallel, then left Mount Pitac on the right at the 30th parallel, and flew from the southern end of the sea of ​​clouds to the northern end of the sea of ​​clouds.Then, in the dazzling white moonlight, many craters appeared indistinctly, among them there was Mount Buyu, Mount Purbach, which was almost like a square with a crater in the center, and Artsakh with mountains inside. Mountain, there is a peak in the center of the mountain that shines brightly, it is very moving, and it cannot be described by pen and ink. In the end, the projectile was always getting farther and farther away from the moon, and the outlines of the mountains gradually became blurred to the eyes of the three travelers. After a while, all these wonderful and strange views of the earth's satellite left them only an indelible impression. memories.